Free Bible Commentary
“First John 2:15-17”
Categories: First John“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
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In the most famous verse in all the Bible we read that, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And yet the Apostle John warns us that we must NOT love the world. But while God loved the PEOPLE of the world enough to don human flesh and die a painful death to save them, we, as God’s people, must be careful to not love the THINGS of the world that place us at odds with His holy will and nature. The worldly “things” that arouse God’s displeasure are the evil inclinations and interests that originate from “the ruler of this world” (John 8:44), and permeate the wicked human heart, and find their expression in the rebellious human will.
John placed all the evil inclinations that are “in the world” which incur the Lord’s wrath under three headings: “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life” (verse 16). These tendencies did not originate “from the Father” when He created mankind in His own image, and the world and every good thing in it. These things are “from the” fallen “world” that was corrupted by Satan’s evil influence and mankind’s sinful rebellion because of dissatisfaction with God’s good provision. Each carnal desire and sinful display that arises from the mind of man can be found in one of these three carnal categories.
The “lust of the flesh” is the perverse desire for all unseemly pleasures that find their expression in things contrary to the benefit of man and God’s blessed will for him. The “lust of the eyes” is the undue attraction to the outward appearance of things, and the inordinate desire for that which a person does not possess. The “boastful pride of life” is the tendency of a person to want to glorify himself, and to take exaggerated satisfaction in his own intellect, accomplishments and accumulations. Eve felt the pull of all three of these worldly allurements before she ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate” (Genesis 3:6).
“The world is passing away, and also all its lusts” (verse 17). Everything about this present plane of human existence is temporary in nature: all things good, evil and neutral. The world is passing away right before our very eyes and, we all can sense the fading of its glory at the core of our spirits that have been fashioned in the likeness of our eternal Creator. We have the tendency to want to cling to things of a diminishing, corrupting, temporary nature even though we know they can never fully satisfy or be grasped (Ecclesiastes 1:14). But, if we learn the ultimate lesson that king Solomon finally comprehended at the end of a long life of chasing after wind, we can live “forever”. “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
1 John 2:18-24 for tomorrow.
Hoping your day is blessed.
